The Thing
by StarmanSymphony
Summary: An early morning goes from ordinary to exciting in a matter of moments when the reported "thing" is seen down in the sewers. Oneshot.


The shuffling of feet on the cold concrete outside woke Fawful. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then fumbled for his glasses. It was all routine at this point, and he didn't exactly mind. It wasn't like he had much choice, given his situation.

He put on his cloak, red, tattered and dirty, and walked out of his little abode and crawled out of the pipes.

Once he was out of the pipes, he looked both ways for any danger, then proceeded to pad away.

He didn't have to go very far to find the Goombas that guarded the sewers. In fact, he was almost looking forward to seeing them. They were the ones who had let him stay in the sewers, and they didn't even tell Princess Peach he was down there. He was still baffled by their kindness, but was grateful nonetheless.

"Hello!" he greeted as he approached a Goomba with a stubbly chin. Fawful sometimes referred to them as Stubble-Chin.

"Well, if it ain't the li'l man 'imself!" Stubble-Chin said. "'Ow are ya, lad?"

"Fawful is fine," he replied. "Were any of you bringing any food, by chances?"

"Naw, not t'day," Stubble-Chin answered, disheartened. "Maybe next time, eh?"

"Perhaps."

Another Goomba ran up to the pair as they shouted, "SIIIIIIR!"

The two looked over at this Goomba, who was much younger than Stubble-Chin. They wore a yellow badge with the letter "L" in black. Fawful called this one Rookie.

Rookie almost fell on their face as they halted. They caught their breath before saying, "S-Sir! The rumors about the… the thing are true! I just saw it!"

Stubble-Chin's eyes widened, and he said, "Did ya catch it?"

"No sir, it was too fast for us…" Rookie glanced down at the ground with guilt.

"Did ya see where it went?" Stubble-Chin asked, his voice firm.

"Deeper into the sewer, I think, sir…" Rookie replied, shifting their feet.

"Ya _THINK?!_ " Stubble-Chin shouted, prompting Rookie to flinch back. "Yer either positive or negative, lad!"

"A-Ah, yes! Yes, it, uh, went deeper into the sewer!" Rookie quickly corrected himself.

Stubble-Chin hummed deeply. "...Who was wit' ya when ya chased it?"

Rookie tapped their foot in thought, "5-XH and... 5-XU, sir."

Stubble-Chin groaned with annoyance. "5-XU prob'ly mucked somet'in' up, knowin' 'im. Ya needn't blame yerself for lettin' it get away, lad."

Rookie let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Can Fawful be helping find this thing?" Fawful asked curiously. He had been listening quite intently to Stubble-Chin and Rookie's conversation, and the creature they mentioned had sparked his curiosity.

"Really?" Stubble-Chin questioned, raising an eyebrow. "We don't what t'is t'ing could 'ave in store for us."

"Yes," Fawful confirmed, nodding his head.

"Welp." Stubble-Chin turned back to Rookie and said, "5-XZ, I want ya t' go wit' t'is lad 'ere to find the t'ing. Go as deep as ya need t'."

Rookie nodded. "Yes Sir!"

—————

"I sure am glad that he didn't send me down here alone," Rookie stated.

Rookie and Fawful padded down the sewers. Fawful followed the young Goomba closely.

"Are you having fright?" Fawful asked.

"M-Me? Scared? Of course not!" Rookie laughed. Their laughter slowed and they squeaked, "I am absolutely afraid of the dark."

"Understandable," Fawful replied. "But at least you are not having as much fright as that Green. Green is having fright at everything. He is dumb. Dumb like a Chain Chomp trying to climb a tree!"

"Do you mean that green Mario brother?" Rookie asked.

"Yes… Red is having stupidity as well."

"...Yup…"

The two walked in awkward silence for a minute or so before Fawful looked to the right and said, "Is that being it?"

Rookie looked to the right to see the thing sniffing the ground. It looked up and skittered away with a squeal before Rookie could make any confirmation. The squeal made Rookie jump, and after collecting themself, they said, "That was it!"

They ran off in the direction the thing went in and shouted, "Come on, Fawful! We can't let it get away again!"

The two chased after the thing for a couple of minutes until they backed into a dead end at the end of the sewers.

"We've got you now… thing!" Rookie exclaimed, attempting to be bold. "Surrender! ...Or something…!"

The thing let out a squeal that sounded like a pig's.

Fawful's eyes widened once he properly saw it. It was small, only coming up to about his waist. It had pink skin with a lighter pink patch on its belly. Its nose was large, and it had chubby, tan-coloured cheeks. Coming out of its mouth were two tiny, blunt tusks. On its head were two small black horns. It wore a yellow shell similar to an armadillo's, but it had black spikes that Fawful could barely see. It had turned itself sideways against the wall.

"Wait," Fawful said, slowly walking up to the thing, "let Fawful be examining."

He stopped a couple of centimeters away from the thing and knelt down to eye level.

"Hello," Fawful said softly. The thing winced back, fear showing in its eyes.

"It is okay, Fawful is not going to be hurting you."

The thing didn't trust Fawful much more.

"What are you doing in these silly sewers? I am not thinking it is very good of a place for a little thing like you."

The thing looked at the ground.

"...Are you lost?"

The thing said nothing, only fiddled with its fingers.

Fawful stared at the thing as it stood nervously. Then he suddenly frowned.

"Hmm. Fawful's glasses are getting blurry," he muttered to himself. He stood up, took his glasses off and rubbed them on his cloak. The thing noticed this, and had turned around to stare curiously at him.

Fawful noticed a pink, thing-shaped, blurry blob out of the corner of his eye while he cleaned his glasses, and whispered to Rookie, "What is it doing?"

"It's… staring at you…" Rookie replied, somewhat dumbfounded by the events they had seen unfold.

Fawful knelt back down and asked the thing, "Were Fawful's glasses scaring you?"

The thing nodded. It then proceeded to pull his glasses out of his hands and hold them to its face. This prompted a quiet chuckle out of Rookie.

"Hey! Be giving those back! They are not belonging to you!" Fawful exclaimed, reaching his hands out to take his glasses back from the thing. He grabbed them and put them back on his face. As he stood up and readjusted them, he said, "Fawful is needing them to see!"

"Is… your name Fawful?" the thing asked quietly.

"Yes, it is," Fawful replied. He was shocked that the thing said something to him. It didn't seem like one to talk… at all.

"Mr. Fawful, can… Can you protect me from the Super Ultra Mega Mean Nasty Bad Men?"

Fawful's eyes widened with shock and fear.

"Bad… men…?" Fawful echoed.

"Yes. They are out to get me," the thing explained, choking up.

Fawful gave the thing a sympathetic look. He knelt back down and told it, "Are you knowing what? Yes. Fawful will be protecting you from the bad men. We will be punishing them, in fact!"

The thing's face lit up.

Fawful stood up again and offered to hold the thing's hand. The thing reached up to the Beanish's hand and gripped it tightly.

"Come on, let us be going back to the place of Fawful. I can be showing you the plans to beat the bad men!"


End file.
